


they're all here

by softlikethesunset



Series: everlark stuff i wrote bc i miss them [2]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, clato has a baby bc that's how it should be, everlark in the afterlife, gale's not here bc he's still alive and i'm not dealing with him today, sorry not sorry gale stans, tearful reunions ™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softlikethesunset/pseuds/softlikethesunset
Summary: so i wrote something about katniss and peeta dying yesterday, and it was rlly sad, so i decided i wanted to know what heaven was like for them.basically katniss reunites with everyone she's lost over the years.also i do not own the hunger games series, all claims to the characters go to suzanne collins.
Relationships: Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark, background clato, hinted hayffie
Series: everlark stuff i wrote bc i miss them [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978651
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	they're all here

When Katniss opens her eyes, she wonders if she fell asleep under the willow again.

She pushes herself off the ground and stands up when she realizes something.

Her bones are no longer creaking, her skin isn’t wrinkled, and her white hair is dark again.

“Katniss?” A voice says from behind her, and when she turns around, she thinks she is dreaming.

A young boy, no more than 20, stands in front of her, with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and if she was to look, Katniss knows she would find a freckle on his left cheek.

She stands there, stunned, until Peeta speaks again. 

“I’ve missed you.”

That’s all it takes for Katniss to fling herself into his arms, sobbing.

He wavers but doesn’t stumble, wrapping his arms around her tight.

“Peeta,” Katniss asks once they pull apart, “Do you still have your prosthetic?”

Peeta shakes his head, the smile on his face wide, as he explains, “No, actually. We all woke up somewhere, the same as you, fresh and healthy.”

He motions across the meadow and Katniss sees a couple and their child that she didn’t see before.

The man has blonde hair, and he’s holding a bundle of blankets in his arms as the woman, dark hair shining, takes a picture.

She notices Peeta and waves. He raises his hand back in return.

“Who are they?” Katniss asks, curious.

Peeta looks back at her, grinning. “Clove, Cato and their daughter.”

Katniss isn’t sure she heard him right. “Clove and Cato as in the Careers Clove and Cato?”

Peeta nods. “Dead tributes live out their lives here. They get the future they wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“The future…” Katniss trails off, looking at Peeta expectantly. “They’re all here, aren’t they?”

Peeta takes her hand, and they start walking towards Victor’s Village, which Katniss realizes, is a lot bigger and bustling with activity.

“All the tributes from past Games live here. They raise a family and basically live just like they would’ve if they survived. It’s basically Panem up here. Which means everyone, all our friends and family, is spread out all over the districts. But don’t worry. I put in a call. They’re all here to visit for a little while.”

Katniss leaned into his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Peeta explained things as they walked, how he woke up in the meadow with both his legs and a clear memory. “I don’t even remember all the fake stuff Snow put in my head.”

They had reached a house that looked a lot like their old one- Mellark still painted on the mailbox in yellow, swirling paint.

Peeta swung the door open and waved Katniss in. “After you!”

Katniss stepped into the house, the door closing behind Peeta.

It was just like home. There was a jar of Peeta’s favorite peppermints on the table by the door- and judging from the sound of clinking glass Katniss could bet that Peeta took one.

Her old hunting jacket was hanging on the coat rack, and her favorite bow was slung up beside it.

A bottle of Haymitch’s favorite liquor was on the coffee table, too.

Haymitch’s favorite liquor?

Katniss frowned. She never let Haymitch bring his drinks into her house, and Peeta never much liked alcohol anyways.

The fact that it was there could only mean one thing.

“Surprise!”

Katniss whirls around and her jaw drops. 

Standing in her living room in heaven was everyone she had ever lost over the years.

Her father, standing next to her mother.

Cinna and the rest of her prep team, decked out in Capitol-wear.

Mags, still as grandmotherly as ever.

Rue, looking a little older but still soft and sweet.

Wiress, Beetee and Johanna, all smiling at her.

Madge, exuberant and glowing.

Haymitch, probably not sober, and Effie, their arms wrapped around each other.

Finnick, who showed no signs of the broken man Katniss last saw in the sewers of the Capitol, his hand still holding Annie’s, her eyes clear, no longer full of pain.

And Prim, her hair in golden braids, her shirt not tucked in. She looked to be about 19, and Katniss rushed forward to hug her.

“Hey, little duck,” She whispered in Prim’s ear, tears forming in her eyes.

“Hi Katniss.” Prim answers, and she pulls away, gripping Katniss’s hands tightly in her own. 

Katniss squeezes them, turning to Cinna and her prep team, who envelop her in a hug.

“It’s good to see you, girl on fire.” Cinna says, and Katniss wipes her eyes with her sleeve.

“Cinna, I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t be.” He assured her. “It was my choice.”

Katniss is embraced by the rest of her prep team, and she walks around the room, hugging everyone who came to see her, like Boggs and Hazelle.

Madge grins when Katniss gets to her, and holds out something shiny. 

Katniss’s mockingjay pin. 

Madge tells Katniss that she was so proud of her for winning the country’s freedom. Apparently everyone filled her in on what happened after she died.

Katniss pins it to her shirt and smiles, thanking her old friend.

She’s shocked when Johanna actually hugs her. Even after the war, Johanna never was one for emotions.

Wiress and Beetee both wave, and Katniss waves back before walking over to Mags.

Mags pats Katniss’s heart and tells her, her words no longer jumbled, that Katniss was the bravest girl she ever met.

Katniss sobs and wraps her arms around the woman. 

Rue’s next, and Katniss shakes as she embraces her.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

Rue just smiles. “It’s okay, Katniss. You tried as hard as you could.”

Katniss just nods, the tears flowing freely now.

Haymitch and Effie are next, and Katniss lectures Haymitch on keeping his liquor in his house, to which he just responds, “We’ll see about that, sweetheart.”

Effie laughs and Katniss can’t help but notice how happy she looks with Haymitch. She makes a mental note to ask Peeta about that later.

Her mother, father, and husband are in the kitchen, her mom chopping carrots and her dad laughing at a joke Peeta told. 

Peeta wraps an arm around her, and she leans into him. “I missed you. A lot.”

He kisses her forehead. “I missed you too.” 

Finnick and Annie join them after a while, Finnick teaching her dad how to grill fish.

Annie laughs and chats with Peeta and her mom, and Katniss can’t help but smile at how happy they both look.

They all eat dinner, grinning and telling Katniss stories of their adventures in this heaven.

“And Finnick burnt the bread-”

“It was one loaf!”

“Rue jumped off this waterfall-”

“Johanna chopped the Christmas tree down, ornaments and all-”

By the end of the night, Katniss’s face hurts from laughing so hard and her cheeks are tomato red.

But she still has a lot of questions.

“So if kids and tributes live out their lives here, and it was sixty years down on Earth, how have you only aged a couple years?” She asks Prim.

“Well, every year here is ten years down on Earth. So it was sixty years for you, but it was only six years here.”

“Do you know what happens down on Earth?”

Finnick answers. “No. We only get news from the people who show up in the meadow.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t have much. Just that Sam came to visit,” she says, referring to Finnick and Annie’s son. “And that they built another statue in the town square. It was of a girl in a rainbow dress with snakes in her pockets. I don’t remember her name, but she was the first female victor of District 12.”

They chat for a little longer, and then it’s midnight, and Katniss and Peeta are alone in the house. Prim and her parents live next door, though, and Katniss is grateful to have her family close by after years of being so far apart.  
They’re sitting on the couch, warmed by the fireplace and each other, and Katniss is tracing her fingers over the mockingjay pin.

“I still feel guilty about it.” She says after a minute, turning to look at Peeta. “Being the reason most of those people are dead.”

Peeta frowns, running his hands through Katniss’s hair. “Katniss..”

“I know, I know,” She says, her head falling back onto his shoulder. “I shouldn’t blame myself. But I do.”

“You’re not the reason they’re gone, Katniss. A lot of them are here because of the Capitol. You’re the reason there hasn’t been 23 tributes a year that had to suffer like we did.” 

“But I’m also the reason Finnick never got to see his son grow up. And I’m the reason Madge’s whole family died in the bombing. And I’m the reason Cinna never got to-”

“Katniss, stop accusing yourself of everything.” Peeta insists, his voice firm but comforting. “Finnick knew what he was fighting for. He knew the risks. And Madge was killed because of the Capitol. Cinna made the choice to make that dress on his own. But they all believed in you. And look at you. You made a better world for everyone.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did.” Katniss says, pulling the blanket over her shoulders.

And for the first time in years, Katniss sleeps peacefully.


End file.
